WSU Stewart Library to Host Daughters of Utah Pioneers Event

May 21, 2012

OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University’s Stewart Library in conjunction with the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) Museum will host an event June 5 to release the new book, “Stories from the Collection of the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum.”

“This has been a lengthy project for us,” said Karen Stark, book project director, “but we’re excited to finally share these wonderful stories with the community.”

The event will feature photographs from the book, as well as a special exhibit created by WSU student, James Loken, which will highlight Ogden businesses from the late 1800s. Guest speakers will present pioneer stories, including “The Murder of Susan Jones: an 1870 Ogden Crime Drama,” “Charles Hancock’s Magic Lantern Slide Show” and Jean Rio Griffiths Baker’s journey from England to Utah.

Loken, a WSU history student, completed an internship with the DUP last semester, and the exhibit he created is the final product of that internship.

“I enjoyed working with the DUP on this project,” Loken said. “It was a chance for me to do some real digging into the history of the area, and to be able to create an exhibit about everything I learned is especially rewarding.”

The Weber County DUP was organized 100 years ago on February 26, 1912, and members quickly began gathering histories and artifacts of early Weber County pioneers. In 1926 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave the old Relief Society Hall in Ogden to the DUP. The building has since served as the organization’s museum. The collection is currently in storage since the museum is undergoing renovations after being moved earlier this year from the Ogden LDS Temple block to 21st Street and Lincoln Avenue.

“This event is an opportunity for us to show the community that, even though the museum will be closed for some time, we still have much we can share,” Stark said.

The program will begin at 6 p.m. in the Stewart Library Hetzel-Hoellein Room, and the exhibits will be on display in the library through the end of June. Copies of the new book will be available for $10 each. The event is free and open to the public.

This project was an extension of the Museum Interpretive Initiative, which the Weber County DUP completed in 2010. Funds to support this publication have been provided by the Utah Humanities Council in collaboration with the Utah Division of Arts and Museums Office of Museum Services.